Pretty much every month or every few months, especially before my time of the month (sorry gentlemen if that's TMI), I become a hypochondriac. I am generally very positive about my health, but in that week or so, it seems like there's always something wrong with me. One month I was convinced I had head lice even though I could never find any. This month I had a bump on my leg and I was convinced it was incipient Stevens Johnson syndrome from starting Lamictal.

Just read a book, turns out this is a relatively common BP complaint. Who knew? So I guess next time I'm convinced I have some incurable malady for those few days, I'll take comfort in knowing it's just my mood disorder (hmm, if that's really comforting ??? :)

Is this something everyone knew and I didn't know they knew because I'm relatively new to the BP forum, or is this new to anyone?

Delusional parasitosis (thinking one has bugs like Head Lice) is a common bipolar symptom?

I am no bipolar sufferer or expert, but i've never heard of that...

I don't think it is a 'mood' thing either. I've known a lot of people with mood disorders (unipolar depression too), and that has never come up.

Is Hypochondria also called 'Somatoform' disorder?

I ask b/c I have a friend who has that and complains of health problems and pains that no Doctor can ever "confirm".

I believe that I read somewhere that hypochondria can be a symptom of bipolar. I know that it has been for me. Twice when severely depressed, I was constantly fatigued and also lost some weight (I always lose weight when I'm depressed because I barely eat). Rather than being able to recognize that I was depressed, I thought that something was wrong with me. I have no idea how it came about, but I was absolutely convinced that I had lymphoma. I spent hours and hours researching it (and to this day know way more than I need to about it). I really, truly believed that I had lymphoma and no one could have convinced me otherwise. I went to the doctor and, of course, had all sorts of blood tests done. Well, the dr. could never find anything wrong at all. It didn't matter though, I still thought I had lymphoma. I even started calling Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital to find a dr. for chemotherapy. Eventually, the episode passed and I would stop thinking of it and pretty much forget the whole thing. In retrospect, the whole thing is pretty embarrassing and rather laughable, but I sure did believe it at the time. The funny part, is that I had the "I have lymphoma" episode twice. The only reason I even realize that this happened and can understand the extent of the delusion is because I take Seroquel. After being on it for a few months, I began to have some insight into my life and was able to recognize things that had been delusions as such.

I'm not sure if this counts as hypochondria or not, but I was absolutely convinced that I was autistic for the entire month of July of this past year. I even started calling friends and telling them that I had discovered I was autistic. I called my mother and yelled at her for not having me diagnosed as that as a child. Needless to say, my neuropsychological testing results came back as ADHD and Bipolar, not autistic. I can laugh at it now, but I can say with all sincerity, that I truly believed it.

When I was a little kid I was INSANE hypochondriac! Almost on a gloomy level. I am BP. It has gotten much better as I have gotten older. I am still paranoid a little bit and I have convinced myself I am pregnant (something not wanted now!!!) on more than one occasion despite say, being on the pill. Paranoia is common in bipolars and hypochondriac behavior seems to be just that.

Really truly, I know the hypochondria thing has got to be part of the mood problem, because even at the time I realize (logically) that it is silly and the rest of the month I am not interested in my health in the least (I can even ignore the fact that I'm feeling sick, etc.) LOL, I never connected my "convinced I'm pregnant, not PMS" to a hypochondriasis, but I just thought it was fascinating that this book about bipolar mentioned it as a part of the syndrome for some people.

BTW, the lice thing wasn't completely out of nowhere. I had started working at a school and my mentor mentioned to me that lice runs rampant in the school, and two young girls in her classroom -- across from mine -- had come up with lice. I had it once in college and it was an annoying nightmare. So that's why I think my brain got caught on it.